


The Difference

by evesharmony



Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-08-18
Updated: 2004-08-18
Packaged: 2017-10-13 05:02:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/133247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evesharmony/pseuds/evesharmony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What's the difference?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Difference

 

"You ever kiss another man, Beanie?"

 

Sean turned his head so sharply that the coffee that was almost to his lips jerked and spilled onto his hand.

 

"Fucking Christ Orlando!" he swore, trying not to spill anymore and mostly failing.  Orli would have tried to help, but Sean had already berated him once or twice for not keeping his eyes on the road and his hands on the wheel.  His passenger continued to curse, degenerating into a thick Yorkshire accent which even Orli couldn't understand.

 

"Sorry mate.  You okay?"

 

"Great.  Few skin grafts and I'll be right as rain."

 

Orlando snorted and failed to suppress his grin.  Fortunately Sean was too distracted to notice.

 

Orli had been waiting weeks for just the perfect moment to spring this one.  Not in public, because Sean always had his guard up when surrounded by potential photographers or 'inside sources'.  At a time like that Sean would have just laughed and given a mysterious grin and said something witty to distract everyone and change the subject.  No, they had to be alone, just the two of them.  And there he was, the unflappable Mr. Bean, cursing and sputtering and dabbing latte off his expensive trousers.  Orli was so pleased with himself that he didn't even care if no one was there to see it.

 

"So?"

 

"So what?"

 

"Have you kissed a man before?"

 

"Course I have," came the reply.  It was so casual and unexpected that Orlando was glad he wasn't holding his own cup of coffee.  He looked over to see if Sean was taking the piss out of him, but the other man was still wiping his pants, looking preoccupied.  Sean had kissed . . . 

 

"Keep your bloody eyes on the road," Sean commanded and Orli obeyed without thinking

 

"Who was it?" he blurted, then blushed.  He immediately thought of Viggo.  But no, that was ridiculous, he would have known if something was going on between Sean and Vig.  All the scenes together, all that time cooped up in the Cuntebago with hair and makeup.

 

"Why are you asking?"

 

Shoulda seen that coming.  Orli shrugged, suddenly feeling defensive.  "Just curious."

 

"Curious.  I'll bet."  Orli could feel Sean's eyes on him but refused to look over for once, afraid he'd be faced with a knowing smirk.

 

"It was for a movie," Sean said after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.  "I played the nubile young lover, muse, and model to Caravaggio."

 

Orlando scrunched up his forehead in thought.  That name sounded a bit familiar.

 

"He was a sixteenth century Italian painter who had an affair with one of his models and eventually killed him in a fit of rage."

 

"So not Disney then."

 

"No."

 

"I don't know that a scripted kiss really counts," Orli said, wondering when he'd lost conscious control over his mouth.

 

"And why's that?"

 

"Because it's just acting.  I've kissed Keira and Diane, but not the way I would've kissed them had the camera not been rolling," he rambled.  "It's not really real, is it?"

 

"I have a rule.  If there's tongue it's real, no matter what the cameras are doing.  So according to my rules I've kissed a man."

 

Orli watched his knuckles whiten on the steering wheel.  He wanted to ask if it had been good, but his runaway mouth seemed to have come to a full and complete stop.

 

"You met him--he was with us that night we all ended up staggering down to the beach."

 

There had been quite a few cast and crew members that night.  In fact, there were quite a few nights they ended up on the beach, and Orlando didn't remember most of them clearly.  There was this one particular night near the start of filming that some bloke had joined them and had spent a lot of time joking with Bean, though Orli couldn't remember much about him.  He'd been pretty old.  His name was . . .

 

"Niles?" Orlando ventured.

 

"Nigel.  Nigel Terry.  He played Archeptolemus.  Your Apollonian priest."

 

Orlando nodded, though the name didn't mean much to him.  "You like older men, huh?" he joked.

 

"It was . . . oh, almost twenty years ago.  He was a good enough looking bloke back then."

 

Orli was starting to wish he'd never brought the whole subject up.  He didn't know what to say anymore.  He was still thinking about kissing and tongues.

 

Sean sighed.  "It was good to see him again.  Bit grounding.  Reminded me of when the bills weren't so easy to pay, you know?"

 

There was another silence in which Sean seemed wrapped up in memories.  Orlando wondered if he was really thinking about his bills, or about Nigel Terry.  The jealousy that popped up wasn't entirely unexpected.  Yeah, he'd wanted to try to ruffle Sean's composure, but he had an ulterior motive as well.

 

"Well?"

 

"What is it now?"

 

"Aren't you curious?  About me?"

 

Sean snorted.  "I don't have to be."

 

What?  Wait.  But nobody knew about . . .

 

"The way you and the hobbits and Vig were always fucking about," Sean continued.  "I wouldn't be surprised if any of you ended up together in a wedding chapel in San Francisco."

 

"Cunt.  I never kissed any of them."

 

Sean's eyebrows shot up.  "The photographic evidence says otherwise."

 

"Fine.  According to your *rule* I never kissed any of them."

 

"Fair enough."

 

Orlando shifted around in his seat a bit, adjusted his grip on the steering wheel.  Fucking hell this wasn't going the way he wanted and he didn't know how to get it back on track.  Not without looking like a fucking idiot, anyway.  Despite their friendship, Sean still made him feel a bit intimidated at times.  Unconsciously, he began drumming his fingers on the wheel.

 

"Spit it out, Orlando."

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"You're twitching.  You want to say something."

 

"I'm not twitching."

 

"You're twitching."

 

"I'm not--"

 

"Orlando--"

 

"I kissed Eric."

 

Silence.  Orlando ventured a sideways glance and saw Sean grinning at him.  Smug bastard.

 

"Did you like it?"

 

Orli nearly choked.  "What!?"

 

"Did.  You.  Like.  It," Sean enunciated very slowly and carefully.

 

"Why are you asking me that?"

 

If anything, Sean's smile took on chesire proportions.  "Oh, just curious I guess."

 

Orlando tried to be annoyed, he really did.  But Sean started chuckling, and Orlando felt the corners of his mouth turning up, and soon they were laughing so hard that Orlando was glad they'd just stopped at a red light.

 

"You're a fucking wanker," Orlando said once he could talk again.

 

"I've been called worse.  So what happened with you and Eric?"

 

"We'd been drinking," he said, surprised at the sudden ease he felt talking about it.  "Joking around,  I don't even remember what started it.  One thing led to another, I guess.  One minute we were laughing about Brad and Rose's love scene, the next, I had a face full of Eric."

 

His next glance told him that Sean's smirk had faded into a more thoughtful expression.  "And?"

 

"And nothing.  He kissed me, then we left the bar and never talked about it again."

 

"He kissed you?  I thought you said that *you* kissed Eric."

 

"Well . . . yeah, I guess so.  I kissed him, he kissed me, we kissed--what's the difference?"

 

Sean pursed his lips.  "Pull over up here."

 

"Why?"

 

"Just pull over."

 

Frowning, Orlando did as he was told.  Once the car was stopped, Sean undid his seatbelt and turned sideways.  "Kiss me."

 

He stared.  "You're daft."

 

"Probably."  But he didn't start laughing or turn away like Orli expected.

 

"You're serious?"

 

"Quit stalling and get over here."

 

"I'm not stalling."

 

"Shy?  Unsure of your ability?"

 

Well that was a challenge if he'd ever heard one.  He slowly undid his seatbelt, ingoring the slight tremble in his hands.  This was stupid.  This was just Bean.

 

Just.  Yeah, right.

 

Orlando took a deep breath, leaned forward, put his hand against the side of Sean's face and pressed their lips together.  He didn't know what to expect--maybe Sean would touch him, put his fingers on Orli's skin, wrap them in his curly hair.  Maybe Sean would laugh and pull away.  But no, he wouldn't do that because this had been Sean's idea.  But Sean could be such a contrary bastard sometimes.

 

He shifted, just getting used to the feel of Sean's lips against his.  He let his tongue brush lightly over Sean's lips, looking for a reaction to indicate whether the other man was feeling anything at all.  But Sean wasn't doing anything.  Wasn't pushing forward, wasn't pulling back.  Wasn't fucking moving.

 

He'd had Eric panting into his mouth within seconds.  And Eric was fucking married.

 

Well fuck this.  If Sean wanted a kiss, he was going to get one of his 'real' kisses.

 

Orlando would have grabbed Sean with both hands, but he needed to keep one braced on the seat otherwise he'd end up right in Sean's lap.  He settled for sliding his hand around to the back of Sean's head, tugging gently on the longer strands of hair while keeping their mouths locked.

 

There was a minute change in the air as he bit down on Sean's lower lip.  Sean's mouth parted fractionally, and that was all the invitation Orlando needed.  Bloody hell.  He was kissing Sean, and Sean was . . . letting him.  He breathed a small sigh into Sean's mouth and felt a hand on his arm.  Suddenly afraid he'd taken the whole thing too far, let too much show, Orlando pulled back and stared into Sean's face.  Green eyes opened slowly and stared straight back at him for an unbearable silence

 

"Now do you see?" Sean asked finally.

 

"See what?"

 

"The difference.  That was you kissing me.  This is me kissing you."  With that warning, Sean reached over and pulled Orlando toward him.  Orlando felt his hip digging painfully into the cup holders, his ankle twisting awkwardly under the gas pedal, but it didn't matter because this time Sean was kissing *him* and digging his fingers into Orlando's hair, just like Orlando had imagined.


End file.
